San Diego County beaches earned high marks for water quality

North County Times wire services -

SANTA MONICA - San Diego County beaches earned high marks for
water quality over the summer, the environmental group Heal the Bay
reported today.

Heal the Bay assigned letter grades ranging from A to F to 494
beaches along the California coast, based on bacteria pollution
levels detected at monitoring stations from Memorial Day through
Labor Day.

The group's summer beach report card showed that 99 percent of
beaches in San Diego County received A or B grades.

The only beach that was found to need improvement was Pacific
Beach Point, which received a D.

In Orange County, a total of 96 out of 104 beaches received A
grades. The group noted that Doheny Beach, which is usually one of
the most polluted in the state, showed improvement and recorded its
cleanest summer ever.

"The combination of record drought and completed Clean Beach
Initiative project led to the cleanest summer water quality in
years," said Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay. "With more beach
cleanup projects on the horizon, the prospects for this positive
summer becoming a trend are great."

According to Heal the Bay, 17 percent of Los Angeles County
beaches earned F grades during the summer, making it the worst
county in the state for beach water quality.

But Santa Monica Bay, which has a history of exceeding bacteria
pollution levels, performed well, with area beaches receiving 93
percent A's and B's - besting the statewide average. Only four of
the 67 Santa Monica Bay beaches received poor marks, compared to 16
last summer.

The group noted that between April 1 and Sept. 3, several Santa
Monica Bay beaches exceeded newly adopted bacteria pollution
standards. The worst offenders were the beach at Santa Monica Pier,
Marie Canyon in Malibu, Dockweiler State Beach at Ballona Creek and
the beach at Redondo Municipal Pier.

Long Beach also continued to struggle with water quality, with
more than 50 percent of the area's monitoring locations receiving
grades of C or worse. Last year, however, nearly 88 percent of the
beaches scored poorly.